The Eden Diet is a “biblical and merciful Christian weight loss program” from fitness, health and diet expert, Dr. Rita Hancock, M.D. Advocating a complete lifestyle change, The Eden Diet aims to give people control of their diet choices and while it doesn’t subscribe to an ‘eat this, not that’ approach to dieting, the book provides dieters with practical ways to enjoy the foods they like, whilst making overall changes to diet to sustain a steady weight loss and improvement in general health.

The Eden Diet carefully combines medical knowledge and Christian conviction to create a diet that is all about moderation and lifestyle change. This honest, practical advice is most visible when Dr. Rita discusses the reasons for weight gain, the impact of the most common eating disorders and the importance of portion control and time management in weight loss. In essence Dr. Rita’s advice helps dieters understand the ‘language’ of their bodies (in terms of hunger signals etc.) so as to train them to eat in response to hunger, and not as a comfort or to address other issues. Dr. Rita also addresses a lack of knowledge about healthy eating and problem foods by giving advice on major food misconceptions and providing a number of healthy, easy recipes that dieters can replicate at home. Helpfully, all of Dr. Rita’s advice is also available on Amazon Kindle and Audiobook, too, making it even more accessible.

Although there are a lot of praiseworthy elements of this diet, we can’t ignore the fact that there are a few issues and omissions that would make it unsuitable for some of our readers. Firstly, The Eden Diet is an overtly Christian eating plan – if you have a Christian belief, or can ignore such references when they (frequently) occur without much difficulty, this shouldn’t bother you too much. If you don’t agree with this evangelical approach however, this diet definitely isn’t for you, so we would suggest you try an alternative diet from elsewhere in this category. Secondly, the book doesn’t include any specific meal plans, meaning those who struggle to plan menus for themselves (or who find temptation creeps in when they have to decide what to eat each day) may struggle with this diet.

Although it’s not without its criticisms, for many, this diet will be an ideal choice. With a friendly, warm and enthusiastic approach to weight loss, as well as a more-than-healthy dose of Christian faith thrown in for good measure, dieters can benefit from Dr. Rita’s practical experience in an accessible and sensible way. All in all - it’s a thumbs up from us!